IntermediatePROBLEM_SOLVING
Think about a time you refactored or redesigned an existing cloud deployment that had grown organically (e.g., ad-hoc IAM policies, scattered resources, inconsistent tagging). How did you assess the current state, prioritize what to fix first, and ensure minimal disruption to running workloads?
Cloud Architect
General

Sample Answer

At a previous company, I inherited an AWS estate that had grown for five years with almost no governance: over 250 IAM roles, 40+ security groups with broad CIDR ranges, and tagging coverage under 30%. My first step was a 3-week assessment using Security Hub, Config, and custom scripts to inventory resources, map blast radius, and quantify risk. From there, I grouped fixes into three waves: immediate security issues, guardrails, then cleanup. We tackled high-risk items first: locked down 0.0.0.0/0 security groups, removed 17 unused IAM users, and replaced inline admin policies with least-privilege roles. To avoid disruption, we introduced an organization-wide tagging standard and SCPs in AWS Organizations, but rolled them out account by account with change windows and runbooks. Over three months, we got to 95% tagging coverage, reduced exposed ports by 80%, and cut monthly AWS spend by ~15% just from identifying idle resources—without a single Sev-1 incident during the transition.

Keywords

Systematic assessment using native tools and custom scriptsRisk-based prioritization: security first, then governance, then cleanupGradual rollout with change windows and runbooks to avoid downtimeMeasured improvements in security posture and cost
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